The present invention relates generally to a system for programming a VCR and, more particularly, to a system and process for allowing a television user to easily program a VCR to record future programs.
The difficulty of setting a VCR for automatic recording at a future date is notorious. Even users who are technically sophisticated will often make mistakes in the VCR programming procedure that cause them to record the wrong program or not to record anything at all. This difficulty has even resulted in a substantial body of humor dedicated to the subject of programming VCRs.
The difficulty of VCR programming has been alleviated somewhat by the development of VCRs that use a television set as a display for user prompts and feedback to the user during the programming process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,713, issued Mar. 30, 1990 to Michael R. Levine, discloses such a VCR using the television set as a display for VCR programming with an interactive user interface for directing the user on a step-by-step basis. Such a user interface removes a great deal of the mystery from VCR programming, but users still have difficulty with such a command-based interface and encounter problems carrying out the programming without making mistakes that cause them to miss recording programs they would like to watch at a different time than when they are broadcast.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,121, issued Nov. 10, 1987 to Patrick Young, discloses a system and process in which user selections from television schedule information are used for automatic control of a VCR. That patent also contains a description of a proposed user interface for such a system and process. However, the provision of a highly intuitive user interface that makes such a system and process easy and convenient to operate is a difficult task. Further development of this system and process has produced considerable change in the user interface as originally proposed.
From the foregoing, it is apparent that a simplified system for programming a VCR is desired.
The present invention provides a simple and convenient method and apparatus for programming a VCR. The system, utilizing a programming controller, presents a display on the viewer""s television which contains a pattern representing a plurality of time intervals. The user programs the controller by indicating what time intervals on what week and on what channel are to be recorded. The controller then continually compares the current time with the programmed time until a match is found. When a match is found the controller activates the VCR, tunes the VCR to the desired channel, and initiates recording. When the controller determines that the VCR has recorded for the desired length of time, it stops the VCR from continuing to record and turns off the VCR""s power.
In one embodiment of the invention, the programming display screen presents sufficient time indicators for a full seven day week. Each day is broken into 48 half hour intervals. The user is also able to select the week for which the programming instructions apply as well as whether the instructions apply once, on a daily basis, or on a weekly basis. After the user selects the recording time, day, and week, the controller requires that the user input the desired channel.
In another embodiment of the invention, the programming display screen presents a series of xc2xd hour time segments, beginning with the current time, for every channel of the user""s television system. The user scrolls along the vertical axis to change the channel selection and scrolls along the horizontal axis to change the selected time interval.
A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and the drawings.
NOTE: Many of the names in the figures and/or specification may be the trademarks/servicemarks of others. Such names include xe2x80x9cHBOxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cNBC.xe2x80x9d